march 17th, 6 -8pm
kickoff the summit at moongate lounge
Join us on Tuesday, March 17th from 6 - 8PM for a conversation between food writer and author Nancy Matsumoto and food justice leader Shakirah Simley.
March is International Women’s Month, and 2026 was designated by the United Nations as the Year of the Woman Farmer. The conversation will reflect on women’s leadership in food and agriculture, the power of cross-cultural collaboration, and what it means to build a food future rooted in dignity, equity, and abundance.
Your ticket comes with:
A welcome drink
Canapes and light appetizers
A copy of Nancy’s newest book, Reaping What She Sows: How Women are Rebuilding Our Broken Food System
Come early, stay late, and connect with fellow food lovers working toward a more just and connected food system in San Francisco.
Agenda
Doors open at 6:00 PM
Conversation begins at 6:30 PM
Questions from the audience taken at 7:15 PM
Book signing and mingling 7:30 - 8 PM
about the speakers
Nancy Matsumoto
WRiter and AuthorNancy Matsumoto is an award-winning freelance writer and editor who writes about agroecology, food sovereignty, food, drink, and Japanese American culture and history.
Her latest book, Reaping What She Sows: How Women Are Rebuilding Our Broken Food System (Melville House Publishing, 2025), tells the stories of women changemakers who are forging shorter, more direct, and more transparent "alternative" food supply chains compared to the long, extractive, and exploitative chains controlled by Big Food and Big Agriculture.
A third-generation Japanese American and holder of three sake certifications, she is the co-author of the James Beard award-winning Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake (Tuttle Publishing, 2022). Her book, By the Shore of Lake Michigan (UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, 2024), a translation of a volume of Japanese tanka poetry published in 1960 by her grandparents Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto, was awarded an American Book Award in 2025.
Nancy’s Substack publication “Reaping” continues to tell stories of the people, institutions, and businesses leading ecosystems regeneration. As a journalist, she has been a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, TheAtlantic.com, People, Food & Wine, Saveur, The Los Angeles Times, Civil Eats, NPR, The Toronto Globe and Mail, and Air Canada enRoute Magazine, among other publications. From 2018 through 2022, she was the critic for Air Canada enRoute magazine’s “Canada’s Best New Restaurants” feature.
Other books that Nancy has contributed to include Unforgotten Voices From Heart Mountain: An Oral History of the Incarceration, Displaced: Manzanar 1942-1945, and The Race. Her book The Parent's Guide to Eating Disorders: Supporting Self-Esteem, Healthy Eating & Positive Body Image at Home, co-written with Dr. Marcia Herrin, is the winner of a National Parenting Publication award.
Executive director, booker t washington community service centerShakirah Simley
Shakirah Simley is a seasoned leader with two decades of experience in social justice and equity work. A former food artisan and forever food justice advocate, Shakirah is a founding member of FAACTS. She is the Executive Director of Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, one of San Francisco’s oldest Black-led and serving community-based organizations which is home to some of the city's only permanent supportive affordable housing for transitional-aged youth. The organization's programs address systemic issues that have impacted generations of Black San Franciscans while uplifting the lives of families, youth, and seniors.
She previously served as the inaugural Director for the Office of Racial Equity for the City and County of San Francisco, as a legislative aide for the SF Board of Supervisors, and the leader of the Southeast Community Center in Bayview Hunters Point.
She has been featured in local and national publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED's Forum, Eater, Bon Appétit, and National Geographic. Shakirah has been honored for her transformative community work, including fellowships with Stanford's Haas School of Public Service and the Warrior's Foundation (now Golden State Community Foundation) and awards from the San Francisco Foundation and PG&E and the Golden State Valkyries.
The daughter of a single mom social worker and eldest of 6 siblings, Shakirah was born in the South Bronx and raised in Harlem, New York. She has lived in San Francisco for over 18 years, working to expand access and opportunity for low-income communities and youth. She lives in the Western Addition with her husband and their mischievous black cat, JJ.